


The End of Infinity With You

by Kika988



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Get Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Post Season 7, almost as many as the author, these boys have a lot of emotions ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-14 23:59:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16051256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kika988/pseuds/Kika988
Summary: Shiro gets some news he wasn't expecting, and there's only one thought in his mind afterward, only one person he needs to see.Shiro had been expecting this call for a while, but it didn't make it any easier to stomach. He'd caught his leg bouncing nervously twice, and each time he cemented his foot to the ground firmly. This was fine. This wasn't a surprise. This wasfine.





	The End of Infinity With You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this is my first fanfic in... a while, and my first foray into the VLD fandom, so hopefully I got the voices right! No warnings needed here -- this is pure self-indulgent emotional fluff. Title is from the FOB song, The Last of the Real Ones!
> 
> Thanks to my wonderful drifty for the beta job that made this way better than it was!

Shiro had been expecting this call for a while, but it didn't make it any easier to stomach as he sat in the waiting room of the Garrison infirmary. He'd caught his leg bouncing nervously twice, and each time he cemented his foot to the ground firmly. This was fine. This wasn't a surprise. This was _fine_.

"Captain Shirogane?"

Shiro startled at his own name, but collected himself quickly and stood, following the nurse back to a consultation room. It was mostly white with hints of gray and orange, no thought put to decoration or putting patients at ease; like most of the Garrison now, its focus was purely functional.

"The doctor will be with you in just a moment," the nurse said, offering him a small smile. Shiro wondered if he was imagining the pity he saw there. 

He hoped he was -- he didn't _want_ pity. He was sick; it had been an undeniable fact for most of his life, and he had accepted that a long time ago. Granted, the intergalactic war he'd been caught up in recently had managed to distract him from that, but he always knew it would catch up to him. He supposed it was a sort of blessing in an odd way, how the aches and pains of first the gladiator fights and later the battles they undertook as paladins had disguised the pain his disease had always caused him. 

But he didn't want pity. He wanted to be _useful_ , for as long as he could. The thought of having to give up his post on the Atlas now, so soon after truly finding where he felt he could belong and do some good… it hurt. He could only hope that he could convince them that he was okay for now, but could start training another to hopefully take over when the time came. He'd had his eye on Veronica for his replacement, if they could find a way for her to interface with Atlas the way he did. 

Shiro was so lost in thought that the doctor had stepped around him to sit behind the desk before Shiro even registered his presence. He was an older man, with unkempt curly gray hair and what looked like a 5 o'clock shadow from possibly two days ago. Shiro straightened a bit in his chair in an instinctive move to look as healthy as possible, something he'd been doing since he arrived at the Garrison as a cadet.

"Captain Shirogane," the doctor greeted as he tapped at the pad on his desk, undoubtedly opening Shiro's file. "I'm Dr. Tart. Thank you for taking the time to come in."

"It's no problem," Shiro replied. "I've been expecting a call like this." The doctor looked up over the top of his pad.

"Oh? Well. With everything else happening, it got pushed aside, and it's more a formality than anything since you likely already know." Shiro couldn't help but think that felt a bit dismissive, but he shrugged it off as the doctor continued. "As you know, we did some more in-depth scans and tests while you were put under to attach the new arm." Shiro nodded his understanding.

"Yes, sir. I understand why those results wouldn't have been top priority," he said, smiling a little. The paladins had been awake for a couple of weeks now, but there had been plenty of injuries in the aftermath of the fight with Sendak and the Fire of Purification, and things had only just begun to truly settle down a little.

"Of course. Since we had been made aware that this was a… _cloned_ body," he said, still seeming awed by the very idea, "we simply wanted to make sure that everything was stable and as it should be. However, as I'm sure you're aware, things are not only stable, but improved." Shiro hesitated, unsure what that meant.

"...improved in what way, sir?"

The doctor looked up at Shiro, going still at whatever he saw on the young captain's face.

"Captain Shirogane," he said slowly, something almost a smile hovering around the edges of his lips. "When they cloned you, they _cured_ you. Your illness, it's… it's just gone. No sign of it at all. You're completely healthy."

There was a rushing sound in Shiro's ears, and he couldn't draw a good breath. His vision tunneled, and for one terrifying moment, he genuinely thought he was going to pass out in his chair. The moment passed, though, and all he was left with was a pounding heart, shaky breaths, and an ache in his fingers from where he was gripping the arm of the chair too tightly. He distantly registered that the right arm of the chair had splintered under his metal hand.

"You're sure?" The words were high and thready, not at all like the commanding Captain of the Atlas most people knew, but it was all Shiro could manage right now. The doctor smiled.

"I'm sorry, we assumed you already-- but yes, I'm sure. All of the tests were conclusive."

Shiro stood suddenly, the chair scraping against the floor loudly as he did so.

"Sorry," he said hoarsely as he backed toward the door. "I'm so sorry, but I have to--" He didn't even finish his sentence, and barely registered the look of surprise on the doctor's face before he turned, sprinting out of the office.

He didn't stop running. Not when he hit the waiting room, or the sidewalk outside, or the quad that separated the administration building from the residential hall. It was almost too easy; the news made him feel oddly light, as if a weight he hadn't even known he'd been carrying had been removed. He caught a few worried looks -- after all, seeing one of the higher-ranking military officers sprinting across the grounds just a few weeks after the end of a full-on alien invasion was understandably a bit disconcerting -- but he paid them no heed. He had a destination in mind.

He ran until he saw the Atlas looming over him, sleek and white and thrumming with _something_ he had yet to fully understand. It was where his living quarters were now, along with those of all the paladins and the core bridge crew. It only made sense, considering they might be needed to respond to an emergency at a moment's notice, and it was enough like the Castle that it had been easy enough to settle into.

He had to slow down a bit once he got inside the Atlas, thanks to the narrow halls and the possibility of running into someone around a corner, but he moved quickly, heading straight for the residential deck, which also happened to be where the training rooms and gym were.

He arrived in the gym, breathing hard almost as much from being overwhelmed as from the exertion of his extended sprint. Keith was alone in the room, and was halfway down into a lunge when he spotted Shiro. One look at Shiro's face had him dropping the weights he was holding immediately.

"Shiro? What's wrong?"

Shiro opened his mouth to speak, and for a moment, there were no words, just him catching his breath in the heavy silence. Keith stepped closer, concern plain on his face.

"Shiro?"

"I'm cured," Shiro finally said, the words rushed and barely understandable, but there. "I'm not sick anymore." Keith froze in place, eyes wide. He looked much like Shiro imagined _he_ had when he'd heard the news.

"You're…" Keith shook his head, like he couldn't process the words, and raised one hand, pressing it lightly to Shiro's chest as if he could feel the difference there.

"I'm cured," Shiro repeated. "I'm not dying," he added, almost giddy with it. "And I love you."

Keith's breath punched out of him, and his eyes shot up to meet Shiro's.

"I love you," he repeated, "and I'm so sorry, Keith. I couldn't say anything before, I couldn't do that to you when I was going to-"

He was cut off suddenly, silenced by Keith's lips, hot and hard and hungry against his own. Shiro fell into the kiss, his trembling hands landing on Keith's hips.

Keith hooked his own hands behind Shiro's neck, as if by doing so, he could pull him in impossibly closer.

When they finally pulled apart, flushed and panting, Keith pressed his forehead to Shiro's, his eyes squeezed shut against the tears that leaked out at the corners.

"You're an idiot," he finally said, his voice wrecked and broken. "You're a fucking idiot, and I _love_ you. As if-- as if _that_ could have stopped me."

"I know it wouldn't," Shiro said quietly. He reached up, brushing his left hand over the scar on Keith's face. "I know it _didn't_. But I had to try to… to protect you from it, somehow, with what little distance I could stomach. I know it wasn't enough."

Keith shook his head, and silenced him with a hard, brief kiss. "It doesn't matter. We made it. You're better." He paused, lingering over the words with something like wonder.

Shiro could see it settling over him, everything Shiro had barely had time to consider on his run over. He wasn't a ticking time bomb, not any more. He had a chance at a long life. One he could spend with Keith, maybe.

"I love you," Keith finally said again, breaking the silence. "I did when you were sick, and when you were gone, and I love you now. And now," he added, with an almost disbelieving smile, "I guess you're stuck with me loving you for a _long_ time."

Shiro laughed, wrapping both arms around Keith and burying his face in his hair.

"I can live with that," he said with a chuckle, breathing in the scent of Keith, of _home_. "I can live with that forever, I think."

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Twitter @B1ackPa1adins to cry about Sheith!


End file.
